Sounding Board

Speakers connect directory and their work

Johnny Edmondson of Growing Neighbors and Shadle Park Presbyterian Church
Our primary mission with Growing Neighbors is building relationships that transform how we interact with people. We do that by growing and sharing healthy food and resources to increase food access and develop community.

We love collaborating with The Fig Tree and using the Resource Directory to share resources and transform lives. That happens. The Fig Tree lists our church, weekly dinners, gardens and the area network of community gardens in the directory to help people find us.

We distribute directories in the 60 Little Food Pantries around town we build, install and stock. We also deliver directories to people we deliver food to, because they have other needs. We follow up to make sure they know how to use it.

After The Fig Tree wrote an article on us, it was fun to hear the readers' responses. One is now starting a community garden for a homeless community. Others are in the works. It's fun to see how an article sparks creativity and opportunity.

Lynn Kimball - executive director of Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington

I have so much gratitude for the Fig Tree. I direct Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington, a public agency that helps older adults and people with disabilities stay at home. A big part of our work is helping people navigate resources—connecting with a home delivered meal, finding help for a family member with dementia, navigating Medicare options or setting up in-home care. 

The Fig Tree's Resource Directory is a critical partner. Asking for help is hard, and we often don't look for information until we have a significant need. The Fig Tree puts our information in front of many people, including faith communities seeking to help people in need. We are so grateful the Resource Directory is there to help people find critical community services. 

We get calls at our Community Living Connections helpline daily from older adults looking for help to connect with services. They don't use computers or smartphones. That makes it so important to have printed resources like Resource Directory. It means all of our community has an opportunity to find information to make that phone call to get help.

We are also grateful to the Fig Tree for their work to share articles and important events every month. They have long been an important resource for us to connect local community members with Falls Prevention classes, Medicare classes and volunteer opportunities. Articles, advertising and the calendar help us get our message to the community.

I'm not just grateful for what the Fig Tree does, but also for who they are. The spirit of service runs through this small, but mighty staff. Our community is a better place because of service oriented people like the Fig Tree staff and volunteers.  Please join me in sharing gratitude and a huge thank you to the Fig Tree staff and volunteers for all that they do.

Oscar Harris – chief family and community engagement officer with Spokane Public Schools

Given the task at hand for The Fig Tree team, I think it took being relentless to get to this point.  The Fig Tree has interviewed me and has been at the forefront of many challenges in the community during the pandemic and everything, so I want to acknowledge that I appreciate its relentlessness.

I have a unique role in Spokane Public Schools, the largest school district East of the mountains and second largest in the state. I help broker resources and make connections among community partners, entities and families. Many challenges go along with that, but I remain optimistic because we live in a community that will stand up and will make a difference.

We have a unique opportunity to make a difference in sharing resources and transforming lives. Being with the Spokane Public Schools almost two decades, I see 200 support staff—and many of our 6,000 staff—using The Fig Tree Resource Guide or Resource Bible. Copies are marked up. Pages are missing. Why am I saying this? Because we have amazing staff who try day in and day out to support families and students. There's nothing like hearing a counselor say the resource guide helped meet the need of a family or student. At Spokane Public Schools our mission is "excellence for everyone." To accomplish that, it takes everyone in the community, so that's why I want to honor you and encourage everyone to dig a little deeper to support this organization and its mission of sharing resources and transforming lives.

Nicole Bishop – strategic partnership coordinator with SNAP

I've been involved with Spokane social services for the better part of a decade. Organizations I was with pursued different missions, and served different populations and communities. One common thread was their reliance on the Resource Directory to more holistically serve clients.

Staff at more than one nonprofit I've worked with, including SNAP, have referred to the Fig Tree Resource Directory as 'The Resource Bible." That's the role it serves. Spokane is rich with community resources, and the one place that allows us to identify those resources is The Fig Tree.

SNAP has served Spokane County for more than 55 years. We have more than 30 programs providing energy assistance, home repair, health transportation, business loans and development. As one of the largest social service nonprofits in Spokane, we are a hub where many clients come for help.

Although SNAP can do a lot to help our neighbors, we can't do everything. When a client calls SNAP for a solution we can't provide, our specialists know to consult the "Resource Bible" to send that client to the right place.

Clients don't come to SNAP on the best day of their lives. When they arrive at our doors, they're often stressed, anxious and needing help they never wanted to ask for. It's hard when we don't have a service to help them, especially when so many find us their safe haven in times of turbulence.

For our staff, The Fig Tree Resource Directory is a way to continue to provide hope. We might not have the solution or know the answer, but we know we can find hope in the pages of the Resource Directory—and that earns it the deserved, oft-repeated title: Spokane's Resource Bible.

Thank you to the Fig Tree for giving our community additional lifelines in their hardest hours. Thank you to organizations that use the Fig Tree to direct a client to SNAP. Thank you to the organizations to which SNAP sends clients we can't fully help. I'm grateful the Fig Tree has been there to guide me in my years of social service work in Spokane. I'm more grateful that this Resource Bible has provided hope and transformed lives for 50 years.